Germany’s efforts to deport more illegal immigrants is hitting an operational and fiscal roadblock, as official figures show that voluntary departures are now outstripping state-executed deportations. Despite significant financial expenditure, almost 9,000 removal attempts failed in the first six months of the year alone.
The financial burden of these operations is highlighted by a number of incredibly expensive or aborted deportation operations. In May, a chartered flight from Leipzig to Pakistan carrying 33 individuals subject to departure — escorted by 75 federal police personnel — cost approximately €518,000.
The operation is now being referred to as “the most expensive group deportation flight in German history,” with funding provided by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex.
By contrast, German taxpayers directly absorbed the costs for two unassisted charter flights to Afghanistan in April and June, which each exceeded €300,000. Operations to various African nations, including Nigeria, regularly reached €400,000 per flight with Frontex support, while an additional €5.93 million went toward security personnel for repatriations.
In other words, even small-scale deportation efforts are leading to exploding costs. Deportation numbers are also now falling, according to government data released following a parliamentary inquiry by the Left Party. The report reveals that federal authorities executed 9,663 deportations between January and June, a decline of 18.2 percent compared to the same period in the previous year. During this same timeframe, nearly 9,000 planned deportations failed to occur.
While state-enforced deportations may be falling, more and more people appear to be willing to leave the country of their own volition. Border officials confirmed that 17,892 individuals required to leave the country departed on their own, with roughly 9,300 taking advantage of federal financial assistance to do so.
Despite these exits, Germany’s overall backlog remains huge, according to Welt newspaper. By mid-year, roughly 259,000 foreign nationals obliged to exit the country remained in Germany. Of this group, 77 percent were granted temporary suspension of deportation and slightly more than 60 percent represented individuals whose asylum applications had been formally rejected.
Even after cases were handed over to the German Federal Police, deportations were interrupted by administrative issues and even physical resistance. Out of 734 cancellations that occurred during this final phase, “130 were due to acts of resistance, and in 56 cases there were medical concerns.”
At the same time, many pilots appear to be refusing to transport migrants slated for deportation. Pilots refused passage to scheduled deportees in 280 instances during the first half of the year, a notable rise given that 514 total refusals were logged throughout the entirety of 2025. Official records do not track the specific reasons pilots refuse to conduct these repatriations.
To enforce compliance during transit, police utilized physical restraints in 786 cases, with such measures used “particularly frequently during repatriations to Algeria, Morocco and Nigeria.”